Another Time, Another Place
by Skwege
Summary: In the near future a guilt driven Dawn helps young Christina Harris contact her deceased father. Much to the dismay of Christina’s mother, Cordelia!
1. Memories

Quick Notes

These characters belong to Mutant Enemy.

Reviews/Feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Special thanks to Joss Whedon for creating all these great characters, and letting fans mess around with his universe.

Chapter 1: Memories

"I'll get it mom!" Christina Harris yelled as she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly zipped down the steps, two at a time.

"Chrissy, don't run! You'll trip and hurt yourself!" Her mother yelled from the kitchen.

"Sorry mom." She replied as she came down loud on the hardwood floor. Her bare feet pattered across as she reached the door, yanking it open.

"Hiya kiddo!" The young 23 year old woman said as she looked down on the child.

"Dawnie!" Yelped Chrissy as she jumped up and hugged Dawn Summers. "I've missed you so much!" She then jumped back with a big smile, definitely something she inherited from her mother. "Did you bring me any presents for my birthday?" The inquisitive young child asked as she looked at Dawn's luggage.

"Of course I did silly! You think I would forget that today is your birthday?" Dawn reached back to grab her bags and walked in through the door. "Hey Chrissy, could you give me a hand with these?" The child did as Dawn asked and picked up one of the smaller bags and set it down in front of the stairway. At that moment Chrissy's mother walked out of the kitchen.

"Is that who I think it is?" Cordelia Harris asked as she walked over to greet Dawn.

"Cordy, you look fantastic!" Dawn complimented as the two women hugged.

"Of course I do!" Cordelia smiled as they broke the embrace. "You're looking great yourself." Cordelia felt old looking at this young woman who was once the small mousy child she first met in Sunnydale. "How are the others?" Cordy asked as she led Dawn into the living room.

"They're doing great." Dawn said as she sat down on a leather couch. "Willow is now heading the most influential Coven in Europe. Buffy is just keeping up with the Slayage. Faith takes on the responsibility of training the newbies. So it's basically more of the same......."

"Hey I found presents!" Squealed Chrissy, as she opened one of Dawn's bags. The two women glanced at the young girl.

"Chrissy!" Cordelia Snapped. "You know better than to snoop in other people's belongings without asking."

"But mom! Presents?" Whined the little girl, as she gave a hurt puppy dog look reminiscent of her father.

"Chrissy, you know that look won't work with me. You don't get to open your presents until after dinner. Okay?" Cordy said to her child.

"But mom!"

"I said not until after dinner, and I'm not going to repeat myself." Chrissy recognized the look on her mothers face when she was annoyed, and she knew better than to push it.

After having just eaten dinner, they sang Chrissy happy birthday as the young girl then scarfed down two Twinkies.

"Mom can I have another one?" Chrissy yelled into the kitchen as Dawn and Cordelia loaded the dishwasher.

"Absolutely not, you'll make yourself sick." Cordelia replied as she walked back into the dining room. She saw the slight frown come across her daughters face. However Cordelia knew instantly how to cheer her up. "Besides honey, wouldn't you rather open your presents." Chrissy's frown instantly turned into a huge smile. "Go wash up and meet us in the living room." Cordelia smiled as her daughter hopped out of her chair and ran to the bathroom.

After a few minutes they reconvened in the living room, and Chrissy tore through her gifts. One after one she gleefully removed the wrapping. Cordelia smiled as she watched how happy her daughter was. After a short time one side of the living room was piled with tattered wrapping paper, and Chrissy examined a book she just unwrapped.

"What is this?" Chrissy asked as this puzzled look crossed her face.

"It's a little spell book that Willow put together for you." She then looked over at Cordy. "Don't worry, it's completely harmless. Just little spells to make multicolored floating light orbs." Dawn then looked back over at Chrissy. "However make sure you have your mommy help you with them." Dawn then got up to get something out of her suitcase. While Dawn did that, Chrissy hopped onto the couch and cuddled up with her mother, and showed her the book. "I have one more thing for you." Dawn said as she walked over and handed her one last gift. "In fact it's for both you and your mom. It's from Giles. He really wanted to be here and give it to you himself. Unfortunately he got tied up with business."

"Oh neat!" She tore off the wrapping paper and then stared at what was a framed photograph.

"Oh my god. Xander." Cordelia whispered to herself as she looked at the photograph her daughter opened. In the photo was herself, Xander, and Chrissy. It was taken when Chrissy was just a year old. It was their first family photograph of just the three of them. They looked so happy. She hadn't seen the photograph in years. All of her belongings and photographs had been destroyed when the Hellmouth closed in on itself. Tears began to roll down her face. This was the first time in years that she has looked upon her husbands face. She looked down on her daughter, Chrissy not sure what to make of the situation.

"Mommy?" Chrissy looked up at her mother while pointing at Xander's image. "Isn't that daddy?" Cordelia pulled her daughter closer.

"Yes baby, that's your daddy!" She looked over at Dawn with tears in her eyes. "Where did Giles find this?"

"He was going through some old boxes he had stored away in England. Xander gave it to him when he moved to England after Buffy had died fighting Glory." Dawn continued. "After all his moving around, he had thought he had lost it. He found it just last month. He thought you and Chrissy would really want to have it." Dawn looked over at the little girl as she examined the photo up and down, smiling.

"Mommy, daddy's ears are just like mine." Chrissy giggled as she looked up at her mother and noticed the tears coming down her cheeks. "Mom, why are you crying? Is something wrong?" She nuzzled up closer to Cordelia, attempting to cheer her up. Cordelia looked down at her smiling.

"No baby, there is nothing wrong, nothing at all." Cordelia then held her daughter close as she kissed her forehead and they stared at the photograph together.

She was supposed to be asleep, but Chrissy rose quickly out of bed and scampered out of her room. Quietly she tip toed down the hallway, being careful not to wake her mother as she passed by her bedroom. She then tip toed further down the hall towards the guest room. She crept towards the door and could hear Dawns voice inside.

"She loved the photo, they both did in fact. You should have seen the look on her face." Dawn must be on her cell phone Chrissy thought to herself. "Yeah I told her that you wanted to be here to give it her personally. She really misses you." Dawn stopped to listen to the person on the other line, then continued speaking. "That's fantastic, they will both be ecstatic. So you and Willow will be here in two days?" Dawn stopped again to listen. "Yeah I won't tell them. I'll let it be a surprise. This will be great, Chrissy will be so happy to see the two of you. Well my battery is about to die. So I'll see you in two days. Bye Giles." Chrissy's little heart sped up with excitement. After a minute she calmed down and remembered what she had to do. She lightly tapped on the door, and then opened it.

"Dawnie?" Chrissy said as she poked her head in. "Can I talk to you?" Dawn looked over at the young girl.

"Shouldn't you be in bed sweetie?" Dawn asked as the little girl slowly crept into the room and softly closed the door behind her. She saw the sincere look in the girl's eyes as she walked over to sit on the bed next to Dawn.

"Yeah, mommy would be mad if she knew I was still up. However I wanted to ask you something." The girl then gave her big Cheshire smile. She only put that on when she was trying to butter up adults. It always worked.

"Sure Chrissy, what is it?"

"I remember hearing about when Buffy died, that Auntie Willow was able to bring her back." Dawn listened to the girl. However she wasn't comfortable with where the conversation was going. "Well I was thinking that maybe we could do a similar spell, so I can talk to my daddy?"

"Oh Chrissy, I don't know. Those types of magicks are highly dangerous and unpredictable. I just don't think it would be a good idea." She looked down at the little girl, tears slowly forming in Chrissy's eyes.

"I just want to talk to my daddy, just once!" Chrissy began to sob. Memories and guilt began to flood into Dawns mind. She thought back to the final battle at Sunnydale High. When Xander pushed her out of the way, and was impaled by The Bringer's knife. She remembered Xander dying. His last words were how sorry he was that he was leaving his little girl. Dawn still felt tremendous guilt over Xander's death. As the guilt began to take over, she looked down at Chrissy. Feeling so sorry that this little girl can't remember how wonderful her father was, and how much he loved her. She eventually made up her mind about Christina's request.

"Okay Chrissy, I'll help you."


	2. Reunited

Chapter 2: Reunited

"Okay Chrissy, we need to do this quickly. Your mom said she will be back from your teacher conference shortly." Dawn walked around Christina's bedroom sprinkling her powdered concoction in a circle on the carpet. The night before Dawn had reluctantly agreed to help Christina contact her decased father.

"Dawnie, will that come out? Mommy would be really upset if we ruined the carpet." The girl asked Dawn.

"Don't worry, this is just Ikhari Powder, standard in many spells and can be vacuumed right up." She explained to the child. She put the cork back on the bottle and walked over and lit the various candles. "Come here, and bring the photograph with you." Dawn asked as she put out the match and began to walk into the circle. Christina did as Dawn requested. She picked up the photo off of the night stand and walked into the circle. Dawn sat down at one end, and motioned for Chrissy to sit down at the other end. "Place the photograph in the middle of the circle."

"Okay." Her small hands gently set the frame on the floor. She then quickly glanced at the photo of her parents and her. Excitement began to build up. She then looked back up and saw Dawn open a book. "What is that Dawnie?"

"It is a template book that I......borrowed from Giles awhile back. It can access any book in the Council Library." She looked at the girl with a serious look. "Now Chrissy, you have to promise me that you will not tell anyone what we have done. We both would get in a lot of trouble."

"Cross my heart!" Chrissy said smiling, while nodding her head. Dawn smiled at her at, the candlelight reflecting off her face. She then looked back down at the book and requested a text that Chrissy couldn't pronounce. Dawn then began to recite the spell word for word. Chrissy giggled for a second as she found some of the words funny, Dawn glanced up and Chrissy quickly silenced herself. Dawn then continued the reading for several more minutes. Then almost as quickly as they started, Dawn was finished. Nothing had happened. A look of disappointment came across Chrissy's face.

"I'm sorry honey. I wasn't sure if it would work." Dawn was about to get up to comfort the girl when a cold gust blew through the room, blowing out the candles. Then a crackling sound filled the room as a small white light appeared above the circle. It slowly increased in size, and began to get noisier. Chrissy got scared and ran over and jumped in Dawn's arms. They both backed out of the circle right as a loud boom came from the light and something fell through crashing to the floor. Then the light quickly collapsed on itself. Dawn wasn't sure what had come through the portal, so she grabbed Christina and ran out of the room slamming the door behind them.

"What the hell?" Xander Harris groaned as he rolled over onto his back. He reached up and rubbed his forehead. "Xander, you really have to quit drinking." He said to himself as he attempted to get his bearings. He looked around the dark room. His eyes slowly adjusted to the moonlight seeping in through the windows. He then pulled himself up, while doing so he put his hand on some broken glass. "Ouch!" He yelped as he pulled his hand back. He was able to see that it was a broken picture frame. He picked up the photo and pulled himself up. He reached around looking for a light switch and flipped it on, and took a look at the photograph. Confusion filled his mind immediately as he inspected the photograph. He was staring at his own face, along with that of Cordelia Chase, his deceased former girlfriend. In Cordelia's arms was a young baby girl he did not recognize. He pulled the photo out of the broken frame and flipped it over. He noticed an inscription on the back and quietly read it to himself. "Giles, good luck in England. We will miss you a lot. Love, Xander, Cordy, and Chrissy." He then turned it back over and looked at the photograph again. He became immensely confused, perhaps he was dreaming? He just was not sure what was going on. He stood there dumbfounded for several moments when he heard the door slowly creep open.

"Who is in there?" A familiar female voice asked. Xander immediately recognized the voice and pulled the door quickly open.

"Dawn, what the hell is..." He was cut off as Dawn lunged at him with a large butcher knife. "Whoa!" Xander side stepped as Dawn clumsily fell over. She rolled over, preparing to jump back up and give it another go. She quickly stopped as she saw Xander standing there in front of her. A total look of shock covered her face.

"Oh my god, what did I do?" She continued to stare at him. "Xander?" She asked.

"Yeah it's me!" He walked over and helped her up. "Dawn, what the hell is going on?" They both looked at each other flabbergasted. Not clear what to make of the situation. He then took a look at the photo again and became angry. "What the hell is this?" He demanded, pointing at Cordelia in the photo. "Is this supposed to be a joke? You know how I feel about her. This is not very damn funny!" He snapped at Dawn. Xander's confusion and frustration distracted him from the little girl who appeared behind him in the doorway. Dawn looked over at the girl.

"Chrissy!" She yelled. "I told you to go the neighbor's house!" Xander turned around quickly to see who Dawn was yelling at. The girl looked quite a bit like the baby in the photograph, just older. The little girl stared back him at him, and then a big smile crossed her face. She ran across the room and jumped up into Xander's arms.

"Daddy!" The girl squealed as the force of her hug caused Xander to fall over on the bed. "It worked, it worked, it worked." The girl repeated as she buried her face in Xander's chest. Xander was not quite clear what to do with the situation. He didn't want to disturb the girl. So he slowly pulled her back to look at her. He looked her up and down, it then set in why she seemed so familiar. It wasn't just because she was the same child as in the photograph. It was her looks. She looked just like Cordelia did at age 9. Except for the ears, the ears were different. He put his right hand up to his own ears and felt them.

"She has my ears." He said to himself softly. He then looked back down at the smiling girl. He touched her cheek and smiled back at her. Xander was still confused, but something seemed right about the situation. As impossible as it was, deep down he knew this was his daughter. Even though he didn't have a daughter, this was his little girl. Dawn walked over to sit on the bed next to the two of them. "What is your name?" Xander asked the little girl.

"Don't be a dummy daddy, you know my name." Chrissy retorted, with sharp tongue reminiscent of Cordelia. Xander laughed to himself softly.

"Just tell me?" Xander requested again. Christina hopped off his lap and stood up straight looking at him.

"I am Christina Anne Harris." She said smiling. "Now quit being silly daddy!" Xander got up off the bed, and quickly adjusted his eye patch. After doing so he heard a door open and close downstairs..

"I'm home!" the female voice yelled from the first floor. Xander's heart sank to his gut as he instantly recognized the voice. He heard the woman walk up the stairs.

"We're in my room mommy!" Chrissy yelled back. Cordelia reached the top of the stairs and walked down the hall to her daughter's room. "Mommy is going to be so excited." She whispered to Xander.

"Baby, I stopped at the store and bought you some Twinkies. You can have one after you take your bath." She said as she entered the doorway. She looked up from the shopping bag and stood face to face with Xander.

"Hi Cor!" Xander said to her as she stood in front of him. She dropped the grocery bag to the ground and fell over into Xander's arms, passing out from shock.


End file.
